Here’s how much the typical healthcare employee makes, from CVS to buzzy biotechs

We took a look at the median pay for employees in 2018 at 30 healthcare companies.
The typical employee at some biotech companies makes north of $200,000 in a year, while the typical pay at a drugstore giant is a little more than $30,000 a year.
Here’s what employees at CVS Health, Walgreens, Cigna, and more made in 2018, according to regulatory filings.
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Not all healthcare employees are paid equally.

To get a better sense of what employees at healthcare companies are being paid, we looked through company documents for 2018, which were recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The US recently began to require that companies disclose the median compensation of their employees and a ratio illustrating the difference between the median pay for workers and CEOs. Companies have long been required to disclose how much they pay board members and top executives.

Healthcare companies across the industry employ everyone from scientists to manufacturers to people who work the register at a retail pharmacy. The pay varies, with biotechs commanding the highest median compensation across the board.

Companies can use different methods for calculating the median compensation figure. For example, some include the value of health insurance and other benefits, while others only include cash pay.

Here’s what the typical employee at companies like CVS Health, Walgreens, Pfizer and Cigna made in 2018.

Walgreens, $31,132

Courtesy Walgreens

Walgreens operates 9,500 retail pharmacies, employing 240,000 people including pharmacists, healthcare professionals, store managers, and cashiers.

Following the merger of Boots Alliance and Walgreens in 2014, Stefano Pessina became CEO of the global pharmacy company. He made $13.5 million in 2018. The typical Walgreens employee makes $31,132.

Pay ratio: 435:1

CVS Health, $35,529

Reuters

CVS Health operates 9,900 retail pharmacies and employed 238,000 employees at the end of 2018.

In 2018, CVS closed its $70 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna. CVS CEO Larry Merlo clocked in with a paycheck of $21.9 million, while the typical employee at CVS made $35,529 in 2018. The median pay figure excludes Aetna employees, CVS said.

Pay ratio: 618-to-1

Bausch Health $37,872

Reuters

Bausch Health sells various healthcare products like generic drugs and skin products. It’s perhaps best known for its eye health products, which include the Bausch + Lomb brand.

To figure out how much a typical employee made, the company based its calculations off its workforce of nearly 21,000 people. Bausch found that its median employee made about $37,872 total last year.

Bausch’s CEO Joseph Papa, meanwhile, made roughly $14.7 million last year.

Pay ratio: 389:1

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